The Surfer
The Mac Attack
Geoff Longley of New Zealand's The Press looks back at the rollercoaster career of the big-hitting Craig McMillan and highlights the problems McMillan faced as a diabetes patient.
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
Geoff Longley of New Zealand's The Press looks back at the rollercoaster career of the big-hitting Craig McMillan and highlights the problems McMillan faced as a diabetes patient.
Having diabetes since 15 meant he constantly had to be conscious of his blood-sugar ratio in the middle.
Hence McMillan often had a supply of jellybeans with him out in the middle to lift his levels if he felt himself going low which was sometimes difficult to determine with the adrenalin pumping.
Playing big innings often took its toll and on occasion McMillan arrived at press conferences with his speech slurred and desperately in need of a glucose injection but unaware of his plight.
Full post'Decision to drop Dravid shocking'
Was Rahul Dravid dropped or rested
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
25-Feb-2013
Was Rahul Dravid dropped or rested? Either way it was a decision that shocked some former Indian cricketers.
Sandeep Dwivedi has the inside story in Indian Express.
Kadambari Murali disagrees with the decision in Hindustan Times.
When India are struggling, he is pushed up the order; when India are doing well he is pushed down the order. He is replaced now with Karthik, who was not played when Ganguly was rested. What is the message being sent out?
Symonds target of Mumbai's monkey chants
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
All of Australia’s major newspapers carry detailed reports of the racist abuse directed at Andrew Symonds during the one-day game in Mumbai. The incident occurred when Symonds batted, as covered by AAP and the Herald Sun, and Alex Brown writes in the Sydney Morning Herald there can be no denying of the issue now.
Peter Lalor outlines the story in the Australian and also looks at the denials in India, which range from the “ridiculous to the ignorant”.
Full postBall boy to bye-bye
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
25-Feb-2013
Where was Sachin Tendulkar on this day 20 years ago? Read Clayton Murzello's Mid-Day story to find out.
Today, the MCA and BCCI will felicitate Tendulkar for becoming the first Indian in international cricket to figure in 400 plus ODIs. [But] October 17 will surely never be forgotten by international cricket’s greatest run accumulator.In the same paper Lalchand Rajput and Dilip Vengsarkar look back at Tendulkar's Wankhede moments. Also read Steve Waugh's memories of one of the finest one-day innings at the Wankhede.
Robin Singh: Video data is available, use it
Lawrence Romeo, of the Caribbeancricket.com , speaks to Robin Singh who has sought to make video and statistical analysis standard in regional First Class and List A cricket in West Indies.
Sriram Veera
25-Feb-2013
Lawrence Romeo, of the Caribbeancricket.com, speaks to Robin Singh who has sought to make video and statistical analysis standard in regional First Class and List A cricket in West Indies.
Were you able to meet or work with Bennett King?
This was an unmitigated disaster, for myself and the video analysis program, after a ten minute meeting where I was taken aback by style and lack of class displayed by Bennett King, I knew we were in for a rough time in West Indies cricket.
Have you been able to have a direct impact on any player since you’ve been working with this program?
Full postThe ageless Kim Barnett
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
Kim Barnett might be 47 but that's not stopping him from playing regular club cricket. He has, however, decided to leave Leek but revealed he wants to continue and try to break the league record for the number of runs in a season.
"I have been working hard at my own fitness levels," he said. "My intention is to get back to the standards I set myself. It was not my aim to finish with 400 runs in a wet summer. It has been a difficult season for all batsmen, but in the five years I have been back playing locally I have scored 4,000 runs.
Full postSpin folly
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
25-Feb-2013
There was really never a moment in the entire series when Pakistan could have claimed to have put the South Africans under anything even remotely resembling pressure, writes former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal in News while revewing the recent series.
It is a sad commentary on Pakistan’s batting that its real strength, its fast bowling, has to be neutralised in order to protect the poor batting. Pakistan, it seems to me, has been forced to shy away from fast wickets and rely on spin for fear of what the opposition pace bowlers may do with our batting. That has meant a reliance on spin which, regrettably, has just not delivered.
Thank Blog for that
When the incomparable, deeply respected and much admired CSA official statistician, Andrew Sampson, announced that he had started a blog, there was much 'logging on' amongst South Africans in Pakistan writes Neil Manthorp in Supersport .
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
25-Feb-2013
When the incomparable, deeply respected and much admired CSA official statistician, Andrew Sampson, announced that he had started a blog, there was much 'logging on' amongst South Africans in Pakistan writes Neil Manthorp in Supersport.
Check out Samson's blog here :
Jacques Kallis likes batting in the 3rd innings of a Test when South Africa are setting up a declaration. His 107* in South Africa’s 2nd innings against Pakistan at Lahore yesterday is the 5th century that he has made in the 3rd innings of a match in which South Africa has declared. In all, he has batted 19 times in these situations and scored 1264 runs with 5 centuries and 6 fifties. With the help of 10 not outs, he averages 140.44 in these innings.
Also see Charles Davis' stats blog here.
Full postThe death of the radio
Writing in cricketnext.com , Dr Narottam Puri laments the decline of radio cricket commentary in India and hopes private players would enter the market to shake things up.
Sriram Veera
25-Feb-2013
Writing in cricketnext.com, Dr Narottam Puri laments the decline of radio cricket commentary in India and hopes private players would enter the market to shake things up.
The job of a commentator on radio is to transport the listener to the playing field. What is required is the ability to paint a picture, through your words, of the playing field, the weather, the crowd and above all of the play, so that the listener is transported to wherever the action is.
Symonds race storm continues to blow
The reactions to the chants aimed at Andrew Symonds in India continue in the sports sections of Australia’s papers with differing reports
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
The reactions to the chants aimed at Andrew Symonds in India continue in the sports sections of Australia’s papers with differing reports. In Sydney’s Daily Telegraph Richard Earle writes under the headline “Indian official says we’re racist” after an interview with Ratnakar Shetty, the Indian board’s chief administrative officer.
Over at the Sydney Morning Herald Alex Brown reports on the ICC warning India to follow the anti-racism code and treat the incident seriously. The All Men are Liars blog on the Herald’s website looks at where Australians stand on racial comments.
Ricky Ponting, speaking to AAP, has defended Symonds against claims from Mark Waugh that the allrounder was being “precious”. The agency also carries a story by John Coomber saying racial abuse and vilification is commonplace in Australian sport.
Full post